Many known chemical products such as surfactants, plasticizers, solvents, and polymers are currently manufactured from non-renewable, expensive, petroleum-derived or natural gas-derived feedstock compounds. High raw material costs and uncertainty of future supplies requires the discovery and development of surfactants, plasticizers, solvents, and polymers that can be made from inexpensive renewable biomass-derived feedstocks and by simple chemical methods. Glycerol is an inexpensive renewable compound that is readily available as a by-product of biodiesel production or via fermentation of carbohydrates. Levulinic (4-oxopentanoic) acid is another abundant feedstock that is prepared on an industrial scale by acidic degradation of hexoses and hexose-containing polysaccharides such as cellulose, starch, sucrose, and the like. Chemical products produced from these two materials could fill a need for inexpensive, renewable consumer and industrial products.